Colouring 6

Tutorial

This tutorial will show you a way to achieve a bright, contrasted look, that's a bit more easy on the eyes.

I'm using this picture of Justin Timberlake:

And we're going to turn that into this:

So let's do it.

Open your picture.

REMEMBER that all colour techniques work differently with each image: You have to play around to get what you're looking for.
This is what works with MY images, so you should know what you're doing to use this tutorial.

01 Variations;
We're going to touch up the orignal picture to give it a bit more oomph. (Image > Adjustments > Variations)

You get a window like this:

Midtone: more blue, more cyanHighlight lighten,Shadow darken,Saturation less saturation.

This already gives a drastically changed look to JT:

02 Curves;

Okay, go Layers > New Adjusment Layer > Curves.

RGB 21, 20 / 131, 136 / 225, 212Blue 0, 60 / 225, 205

This is the result of that layer:

03 Levels;

Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels.

Input 25, 1.35, 234

And this is what Justin looks like now:

04 Color Balance;

Now add Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance.

Midtone: 60, 27, 65Highlight: 18, -6, -17

Boom, brightness.

Check out JT now:

05 Hue & Saturation;

Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue & Saturation.

Hue 16Saturation -11Lightness 0

06 Selective Color;

Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color.

Red 0, +100, 0, 0Cyan +100, -100, -100, +100

These are obviously extreme, because with my image I can get away with it.
Remember to work with what's best for your image.

I added some text, and then that was me done.

This is JT's final look:

You now have your final product. Save For Web > Save as PNG for best quality, especially if you have used text.